FIRST BOUNTY AND REVELATION

Luffy brought the unconscious Zoro near Going Merry where Sanji, Nami, Johnny and Yosaku were waiting for him, seeing Zoro's condition Nami was shocked and covered her mouth. She had seen the final confrontation between Mihawk and Zoro and power they displayed was just unheard off, but even though Zoro lost, he was still able to injure the World's Greatest Swordsmen.

Luffy slowly passed Zoro to Sanji, who carried him into the infirmary with the help of Johnny and Yosaku. Everyone was ready to leave when Nami noticed Luffy staying back, "Luffy, Aren't you coming!!?" Luffy looked at Mihawk who looked at him, "You guys go, I will come back soon!!!" Nami frowned at that, "Did he want to fight you too!!?" but this time it was Mihawk who replied, "Monkey D Luffy, the only reason I come this way to East-Blue was to test you…but well as you can see, I got busy with your swordsmen!! But now…." He raised his sword towards Luffy, "Go all out boy, I want to see just how strong are you when your swordsmen is that strong!!!"

Luffy still looking at Mihawk replied to Nami, "Go…." Nami then left the place, Luffy looked at Mihawk's injury, "Aren't you going to first patch up your wounds….you know you look kinda ruffed!!!" Mihawk frowned at that, "You're just as how Red-haired mentioned….quite annoying!!" Luffy grinned at that, "Well, then you haven't seen anything yet!!!" and with that Luffy covered his left hand in Armament Haki and bit it, this confused Mihawk until he sensed a massive amount of power building with Luffy, there was a sharp glint in Luffy's eyes, "GEAR 4-------"

An hour later on Going Merry, Nami is sitting on the deck under the shade of Umbrella drinking some orange juice, when suddenly she saw both Luffy and Mihawk exiting the island with Luffy talking something with him. After some minutes, Mihawk hopped on his coffin boat and sailed away, while Luffy Jumped on the Going Merry with a grin, Nami immediately ran towards his side, "What happened, did your fight is over!!!? How come it only took an hour!??" Luffy laughed hearing Nami's rapid questions, "Don't worry, he only wanted to see my true strength, so I showed it to him!!" he then started to walk towards dining room and entered in and sat on his sit at the table, "Yoi Sanji….I'm hungry…..!!!!" Sanji walked out of the kitchen and placed the large amount of food on the table, "Yeah yeah, here eat…."

Nami sat next to Luffy and Sanji also sat at the table, "So, what now!!???" he asked, Luffy after swallowing some food looked at Sanji, "Won't you join us…?" Sanji looked at Luffy and then after few seconds he sighed, "I….I really thought about it, but my answer is still no and you know why!!!" Luffy nodded at that, then he looked at Nami, "How's Zoro doing!!??" "We've patched him up with the medic supply Kaya had stocked on the ship, right now he is sleeping. Johnny and Yosaku were looking after him." Luffy nodded at that and after finishing his food he said, "Set course for Baratie." Nami complied and got on it.

MARINFORD----

Two days after Mihawk tested the Strawhats, he finally sent the report to Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Right now inside Fleet Admiral's office, there are three occupants present, one is Garp, other is Sengoku himself and third is an old woman whose name is Tsuru, she is one of the oldest Marine officers. Sengoku had called her because she is a very good advisor, "Mihawk has sent his reports about his encounter with the Strawhat's." hearing this Garp perked up, "Oh, and what did he said!!?? Sengoku looked at Garp who is looking like he will lose his control if he not tells him about his grandson. "He encountered them at the sea restaurant Baratie, where he first tested the swordsmen Roronoa Zoro and then Monkey D Luffy. He told me that Strawhat has all three types of Haki while Roronoa has only two."

Garp was extremely shocked at that news, Luffy has unlocked all three types of Haki and his crewmate has Haki too, just how long he had missed on Luffy. Tsuru seeing Garp's expression pated his shoulder, "It's not time for thinking about this, we should get to the point that a rookie pirate from East-blue has all three types of Haki. If he entered the Grandline, his strength will only increase. We need to place bounty on their heads!!!" Sengoku nodded at that, "I have already thought of the perfect bounty for both of them!!" 

A day later, two new bounties were published and spread around the world. At Marine base, Shells town, Koby who was sweeping the floor with Helmeppo beside him, he suddenly saw a new bounty poster on the board. He walked closer to it and saw it was the bounty poster of Luffy, seeing Luffy's first bounty Koby smiled, "Looks like your real adventure starts now, Luffy-san!!" Helmeppo seeing Koby staring at the notice board, walked beside him, only to get a shock of his life, "WHAT….THIS IS TOO MUCH…." Koby sushed Helmeppo, "What are you doing….don't yell!!" but Helmeppo just pointed at Luffy's bounty reward. Looking back at the bounty poster again, this time he saw it clearly what was written there, "That's….so much…."

At Foosha village inside Makino's party bar, the villager's were celebrating Luffy's first bounty. Everyone was enjoying their drinks while at the corner of the bar sat mayor of the village Woopslap, he was grumbling about how no one understood the implication of this that Luffy is tarnishing their village's name. Makino looked at Luffy's first bounty with a smile and immediately put it on the notice board.

At the mountain bandit's hideout, the door of the house suddenly slammed open and in ran Dogra with two bounty posters, "WHAT WERE THINKING SLAMMING THE DOOR LIKE THIS…." But instead of answering to her, he just shoved two posters at her face. Dadan was startled by this but when she saw it is Luffy's bounty poster, her eyes widen at seeing the reward placed on his head, then see saw another bounty poster which was Zoro's, it was written that he is the first-mate and his bounty reward is also absurd. She immediately grabbed her forehead, "Just what did you do to get this much as the first bounty!!?" 

Somewhere in Grandline, a black haired young man with freckles on his face is riding what looks like a speeder powered by fire, he is holding the bounty poster's of both Luffy and Zoro. He grinned seeing Luffy's bounty, "Well, looks like you won this time….little brother!! Such a high bounty for a starter pirate….just what mess you've caused!!!"

GRANDLINE, AN UNKNOWN ISLAND---

Mihawk can be seen walking at the beach towards the tent settlement where bunch of men's were laying around while some of them are doing their own business. He slowly walks towards them as one of them noticed him, "HEY CAPTAIN, DRACULE MIHAWK IS HERE…." Hearing this, everyone got on attention and looked at Mihawk, who just ignored them and walked towards the Red-Haired man lying on the beach chair, "Look at you, wasting your time in partying and drinking…."

Red-Haired man looked at Mihawk groggily, "Well well well, If it isn't the World's Greatest Swordsmen…." He then looked at his men's, "At ease mates…." Hearing his command everyone relaxed. Then the Red-haired man got up from his lying position and sat straight on his chair and faced Mihawk, showing the iconic slash marks over his left eye. This man is none other than Red-Haired Shanks, one of the four Yonko's of the sea.

Shanks looked at Mihawk, "You know that I'm not in a mood to fight you….right!!??" Mihawk looked at him with neutral expression, "I'm not here to fight you….afterall you're now just half the man I once knew!!!" Shanks eyes twitch at hearing that, "You know right that I can still take you on…with one hand tied behind my back!! HAHAHAHAHA…" he and his crew laughed at his ridiculous joke while Mihawk just looked at them unimpressed. He then grabbed two bounty posters and handed over the first one to Shanks, "Remember the boy who you always brag about…"

Shanks hearing that immediately took the first bounty poster and unfolded it and was shocked at seeing it was Luffy's first bounty, but what surprised him more was the amount written on it, "That's a lot for a starter bounty!!!" the Red-Haired pirates were all huddled around their captain and looking at Luffy's bounty. Then Benn walked towards Mihawk with curious look, "Who's bounty is that!!?" he asked pointing towards another bounty poster in Mihawk's hand, he gave it to Benn who unfolded it and saw a green haired young man. He read the description on it, "So, he is Luffy's First-Mate, huh….!!!" This got Shanks attention and he peeked at Zoro's bounty, "Well, I'll damn…Luffy sure is gathering strong crewmembers!!!"

He then looked at Mihawk, "I am certain, anchor sure had did something to irritate those old Goats at MarinFord…." He then started to laugh with his crew. "These bounties are unimpressive…." Mihawk said to which Shanks patted his shoulder, "Now now Mihawk, don't be like that….they had started their adventure!!!" Mihawk looked unamussed at that, "I think you didn't quite got what I am saying….I mean to say that, their bounty is too low for them!!!" everyone got silent hearing that, they all looked dumfounded, "Wh..What!!? Shanks asked.

"I think we need to sit down for this one…." And with that, he started to tell them about what truly occurred.

ELEGIA ISLAND, UNKNOWN LOCATION---

On the island of Elegia, Gordon the previous King of this nation and the one of the only two survivor of this island is seen panicking and sweating while he is running towards the place where he is living in, he had to make an argent call immediately, "Oh no, this is bad….really really bad….she is doing it again. I thought it is over, but it had remerged again….damn those news coo birds, why they have to give the poster to her…." He was muttering furiously while also trying to call someone, "Damn you Shanks, just pick it up…."

Now what truly happened which made Gordon so much panicked, well the truth is…after the incident ten years ago and Shanks leaving Uta behind to protect her by not knowing the truth, it was only him and Uta who were living on this barren island. Everyday Gordon would try to cheer up Uta by telling her more about the history of music, his life tales and many more things. Things were slowly turning normal and Uta was opening up to him by telling him about the different islands she had travelled and many things, but the most important thing she always talks about how she met a kid on Goa Kingdom, she told him how she first saw him as annoying and always pestering her, but slowly she started to enjoy his company.

She also told him how this boy Monkey D Luffy always knew how to make her laugh or how to cheer her up. Gordan smiled seeing how much Uta missed this boy Luffy, so he started to tease her that she had a crush on Luffy and that now she is so far away from him, she is now realizing this. Uta blushed and denied the accusation. Life was looking good day by day for Gordon, but oh how wrong he was, he started to notice Uta behaving little bit differently, not at sudden but it was just a start when one day Gordon knocked on Uta's door to call her for food, but she didn't reply so he got worried and he hurriedly barged in her room only to see it was filled with crumbled paper and Uta is drawing something. He slowly walked behind her and peeked over her shoulder to see she is trying to draw a boy but he can clearly see the drawing is not good at all.

He shook her shoulder and asked her what she is doing, but her reply scared him a little, "I am drawing my Luffy's picture, so I can always look at his picture whenever I think about him." She said with a disturbing smile on her face. This was the day Gordon never forgot because after that things just got even worse. Uta's solitude on this island has caused her to go from Luffy is just my childhood friend to Luffy is my everything and we will get married when we finally meet. She had become completely obsessed with him.

So, Gordon got no choice and one day he called Shanks and told him about everything, "This is really bad, if she started to develop feelings for him then I can understand, but this just insanity!!" he can clearly hear tension in Shanks tone. "What should I do!!??" after few minutes of silence Shanks spoke, "Try to distract her, maybe give her some impossible task or maybe ask her to make some difficult music!!!" Gordon understood the gesture and after few more minutes he hang up and started to think, how to instigate this plan.

It took two and half years, but Uta stopped her crazed talk about Luffy. She still adores that boy but she had finally stopped scaring the shit out of Gordon. It was until today, when he and Uta were taking a stroll on the beach and talking about making new songs, a News coo bird arrived and dropped today's newspaper with what looks like two bounty posters. Gordon didn't think too much about them and payed the News bird who after taking money flew away and when he turns towards Uta, he froze up. There was that very familiar crazed smile again on her face which he thought would never appear again after 6 years, but he was wrong.

He looked at Uta who was breathing heavily and with her crazed smile looking at one of the bounty poster, he shakily and slowly peeked at the poster, only to froze up again seeing a very familiar face of the same boy which Uta always drew albeit he looks more older now. The boy Monkey D Luffy has become a pirate with such a high bounty, he immediately opened up next poster to see another person with big bounty and he is that boy's First-Mate.

Gordon was shook out of his stupor by Uta, who frantically waving the Luffy's bounty infront of him, "Her Gordon look, it's him…my Luffy-kun! He had finally started his own journey!!!" then she blushed deeply and her pupils turn into hearts, wait hearts…is he seeing things, "He become so handsome and look at those eyes…so full of mischief!!! Oh my sweet Luffy-kun…I can't wait to meet you!!" she then kissed Luffy's poster and ran away towards her room with it. Gordon can only look in horror, "Oh god!!!! Please save that poor boy!!!"

AT BARATIE---

A huge party is going on, celebrating Luffy's and Zoro's first bounty. Everyone is enjoying themselves, Zoro who is still in some bandages is sitting at one of the table and drinking booze while Johnny and Yosaku were telling him how cool he is. Nami was somewhat disturbed by the amount of bounty placed on both Luffy and Zoro, but Luffy reassured her and told her that it is the minimum they can get. She didn't understood what he meant by that when he told them that, it was him who asked Mihawk to down rate his and Zoro's true skills and strength so that an Admiral won't come after them so soon.

Right now Luffy is jumping around the dining room and showing how cool he looks in his bounty poster-

Monkey D Luffy aka StrawHat Luffy- The captain of StrawHat pirates.

His picture is same as how it was in New World in original canon, just instead of closed eyes, his eyes were open and they were showing a sharp glint into it, with his iconic broad grin.

Bounty: 400,000,000 Berries.

Roronoa Zoro aka Pirate Hunter Zoro- First-Mate and Vice-Captain of StrawHat pirates.

Zoro's looks more scarier in his bounty, with blood covering his face and dangerous look in his lone right eye while looking sideways and his iconic black bandana is on.

Bounty: 300,000,000 Berries.

Few hours later, it was night time and everyone is resting now except Sanji who is standing on the balcony of the Baratie and looking at the moon. He then heard footsteps coming his ways and stopped beside him, he glance at the person to see it was Zeff standing beside him. "Something in your mind kid!!??" Zeff asked to which Sanji was silent for few seconds then he responded, "When I saw the strength and willpower they are showing while fighting, I thought maybe if by chance I would've just got a fraction of their skills….then she could've been alive right now!!!" Zeff looked at him with solemn expression, "Sanji, what'd happened was in the past….don't waste your time in thinking of what ifs!!" Sanji didn't say anything and just kept staring at the sky.

Zeff sighed, "I never told you how I become pirate, do I!!??" this got Sanji's full attention. "When I was at your age, I was too under a great chef who worked for WorldGovernment. He thought me everything he knew and when there was nothing left to learn from him, I started my own journey to find new cuisines and dishes from different islands and countries. It is at that time when I was travelling, I heard about All-blue…" Sanji looked at Zeff with surprise, "A place where all four blues meet causing the fishes from all four blues to found at one place. I was really intrigued by this story, so I made it my goal to find this legendary place and cook a huge buffet of seafood and rare fishes." He looked at Sanji with a smile and Sanji's eyes widen at hearing this. "So, I restarted my journey to find All-blue and in this adventure I encounter many different chefs and interesting people who also wanted to find this legendary place, so I recruited them and for ten years, we sailed through all over the Grandline…but couldn't find it. So when one day we were stocking at one of the island in Grandline, I was at the bar, drinking away my frustration and muttering about how I will not stop until I found that place. Few occupants in the bar started to laughing at my dream and making fun of it, so I did the only thing which came to my mind that time…I beat the living shit out of them and left the bar. Next day, while we were sailing again, I read the newspaper that how a pirate beat down twenty Marine officers and a new bounty was published…"

He started to chuckle, "That so called pirate was me, I didn't knew that the once I was beating were Marines. So that was the day I was declared pirate Red-leg Zeff because I beat them with my leg only and their blood was covered on my boots." Sanji looked at Zeff with deadpanned look, Zeff looked at his facial expression, "What…don't look at me like that brat!!!" "Whatever!!!" there was silence between them and then Zeff spoke again, "You know, in my journey….I met the Pirate King himself!!!" Sanji immediately looked at him with wide eyes.

"At that time, he was not known as the Pirate King just one of the great Pirates. When we encounter eachother, I knew that I am not strong enough to challenge him but instead of fighting us, he approached me and asked me to cook him a banquet because he heard about my cooking. We partied like no tomorrow that day and at that moment I realized that Gol D Roger was not like how the WorldGovernment described him instead he was just a curious child in adult's body." Zeff smiled reminiscing about that day, "When I told him about my dream, he didn't laugh at me but encouraged me to never give up. His words still ringing in my ears, 'A PERSON CAN DIE, BUT THEIR DREAMS LIVE ON.'" Sanji hearing this started to contemplate about his own dream, "You know why I saved you that day…." Sanji looked at him and shook his head, "Because you reminded me of my younger days, full of passion and a drive to achieve your dream!! But you threw all that away just to repay me!!!" Sanji looked down in shame.

"That Strawhat boy reminds me of Roger, just like him full of energy and charisma….and his will to achieve his dream will only lead him to greatness!!!" He then looks at Sanji, "Go Sanji!! Go with him and follow your own dream…don't waste your life on an old man like me. I want you to achieve what I was not able to!!!" Sanji hearing this started to cry and hugged Zeff, while Zeff patted his back. "You are like a son to me Sanji and I can't just sit and see my son throwing away his own happiness for me!!" he then wiped away Sanji's tears, "Follow that boy and I can guarantee you that you will find happiness in your life."

That night, Sanji cried like a child in Zeff's arms, all these years of pent-up emotion and the suffering he endured by his so-called perfect family and seeing his mother's death….he finally released all his emotions.